Question for Economics Experts (or Blowhards) (UPDATED 1/26/08!)

Here’s the final industry breakdown for today’s Dow at the close:

Sector Change
Basic Materials +0.48%
Capital Goods +0.16%
Conglomerates -0.56%
Cons. Cyclical +0.37%
Cons. Non-Cyclical -0.47%
Energy -0.30%
Financial -1.31%
Healthcare -1.36%
Services -1.20%
Technology -1.15%
Transportation -0.09%
Utilities -0.71%

This was the aftermath of a substantial sell-off with heavy volume. Now I know this is just one day, and I’m certainly no economist, but if you take today’s changes seriously, doesn’t this look like the beginning of a hard-asset bubble?
Let’s hear from people who know (or think they know) about this kind of thing.
UPDATED BELOW THE FOLD ON 1/26/08!!

Clinical Use of MDMA, Part 2

As a follow to the prior post on MDMA clinical trials, I wanted to delve down into the MDMA dosing specifics. One major problem I have with the MAPS efforts to pursue clinical trials is the expansion of dosing as the trials continue. As mentioned in the prior post, the director of the longest running clinical trial Dr. Michael Mithoefer seems to be under the impression that MDMA has been proven to be safe in the clinical setting and refers to other risky “settings” as if environmental conditions were the sole source of an interactive risk. MAPS honcho Rick Doblin has rather consistently argued that the likely threshold for lasting serotonergic dysregulation is considerably above “recreational” doses. I don’t know whether they have read the single study showing (limited) lasting brain disruption associated with a single oral 5 mg/kg dose of MDMA, the human PK studies showing MDMA autoinhibits it’s own metabolism or the paper suggesting intermittent low dosing can sensitize seizure threshold, but it would appear not.